Keeper of the Dragon's Melody
by CharmedP5
Summary: [SHxOC] A new student comes to Daisuke's Niwa's class. She seems like a normal teenager but with odd social behavior and extraordinary skills on her flute. Is she a prodigy or is there something else? Will Hiwatari see the truth?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing special, same as always. I don't know why I do this.

Keeper of the Dragon's Melody

Chapter 1

Everyone in Daisuke Niwa's class, except for Satoshi Hiwatari, was submerged in conversation, when the teacher walked into the room.

"Okay," she said with a clap of her hand, "Everyone have a seat, that includes you Saehara-kun."

Following, a couple steps behind, the teacher was a girl. She wore the normal long sleeve version of the Azumo Middle School, school uniform with knee high socks. She had black hair with side-swiped bangs that fell over one of her amber eyes. On the opposite side, of her bangs, a small braid framed her face.

"Class, I would like to introduce our new student, Himitsu Harumi(A/N)," Himitsu faced the class and bowed, "Himitsu-san, why don't you sit in the back next to Hiwatari-kun?"

Himitsu walked silently to the back of the classroom and sat down. Out of the corner of his eye, Hiwatari watched her pull out new untouched school supplies. He found this odd but he was unable to worry about it for any length of time because his attention was drawn by the sound of the teacher's voice.

"As you know, our next art unit is an instrumental music course. Most of you have already signed up for an instrument. Miyamoto-kun are you still interested in being student director?"

"Hai," replied Miyamoto.

"Saehara-kun, what will you play?"

"I'll play trombone," answered Saehara.

"Fakuda-san?'

"Alto saxophone," replied a girl with light brown braided pigtails.

"Himitsu-san, what instrument would you be interested in playing?"

"I, uh..." stammered Himitsu quietly.

"I don't need to know now. If you need time to think about it, you can talk to me at the end of the day."

"No, I..." she said timidly. "Can I play flute?"

The teacher smiled, "Of course."

After the teacher turned away, Himitsu looked down at her desk and sighed.

* * *

Throughout the day, Hiwatari continued to watch her, noting her odd behavior. Like the way she flinched when anyone addressed her, how she did anything to make her unnoticed, and how she avoided any interaction with anybody. But what he saw during lunch seemed, to him, the most interesting. 

She sat silently at her desk, unmoving, with her eyes down. She had finished her lunch, or what appeared to be her lunch. Her lunch consisted of three small onigiri, which was not possibly enough to please any person with a normal appetite. Whether she was content or not did nothing to alter her position.

It seemed that he wasn't the only one to notice. The younger Harada, Risa appeared to have noticed as well. She stood from her desk and walked over, her bento in her hand.

"Himitsu-chan, aren't you still hungry," Risa asked her kindly.

"Huh?" gasped Harumi looking up at Risa.

"Here, you can have some of mine," offered Risa as she held out her lunch.

"I…uh…" stammered Harumi quietly, "I can't, thank you, but I-I can't."

"It's okay, go ahead."

After a moment of silence, Himitsu stood abruptly.

"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom," she said hastily before leaving the room.

Risa stood slightly surprised for a moment, before returning to her seat and group of friends.

* * *

The girl walked down the dark hallway, lit only by the flickering street lamps of the street below, that shown though the broken window into the trash lined hallway. 

In the distance dogs howled at screeching cars, horns blared, glass shattered, and alarms whined. Even the faint echo of muffle screams sounded in the air.

She pulled a key out of her pocket. She hesitated before she inserted the key into the scratched lock. She turned the key, and the lock clicked. Slowly, she opened the apartment door. She glanced around at the dark empty apartment living room, before stepping across the threshold.

The door slammed. Strong hands grabbed her and pushed her against it. She gasped as a hand grasped her neck.

"Where have been?" demanded a voice as strong and rough as his hands.

"I…got…lost," gasped the girl. She winced in pain, as the hand's hold tightened, "I…swear…"

The man's cold eyes narrowed and his grip tightened further. She couldn't breathe.

"O…to…san," she pleaded weakly as she fought helplessly against his grip.

He glared at her, watching her suffer. He threw her to the ground where she gasped for air.

"Do what I keep you here for," he said coldly as he stared down at her. He turned, "Then I better not see your face till morning."

With that said, he left the room.

A/N: In Japan the surname is said first. Her first name is Harumi.


	2. Chapter 2

Keeper of the Dragon Melody  
Chapter 2

The morning light shown dimly through the half-shaded window. The small square of light lay in front of a plain wooden door.

The door led to a room, created to hold coats and jackets. However, the bar meant for hangers contained none. Within this closet beneath that bar sat the girl.

Silent in the corner, she sat with her knees drawn to her chest. She sat listening, waiting for the tell tale sign of complete solitude.

Faint footsteps, muffled by the closed door, sounded. They grew louder; her heart pounded. They stopped. The sound of keys echoed through the door; fear rose within her. The footsteps' volume grew and stopped; a lock clicked. They began to fade. Minutes later, a door slammed.

Ever so slowly her heart calmed. She released a held breathe she didn't know she had. After a few moments, she hesitantly opened the door.

When she saw the room was empty, she moved quickly to the window. She arrived at the window in time to see her father disappear around the adjacent building. Slowly she turned from the window, and started towards the farthest door.

Her heart once again began to race, as she reached out for the doorknob. He was gone but still she trembled. She opened the door slowly and silently despite the emptiness of the room.

Behind the door was as it was the last time. The bed in the center with the sheets skewed; window closed, covered and locked; a near-empty closet; and bare wood floor.

She walked to the far side of the bed. Beneath the window lay the shattered picture frame with a picture of a beautiful young woman in his arms. His face held a smile, youth, and kindness. It was different time though. The girl couldn't remember him as the man in the photo.

Now, his face filled her heart with fear, even as, she walked carefully around the puddle of broken glass. She knew better than to disturb even a single fragment, though in her heart she longed to remove the photo from its broken home.

She tore her gaze from the picture and turned to the bed, or rather the boards beneath it. Ever so slightly she moved aside a small bit of the disarrayed sheets. She could see it. Two planks under the edge of the bed lay a raised floorboard, only by a small fraction of an inch but raised none the less.

After what seemed like an eternity of prying, the board came loose. She reached her hand into the hole and pulled out a long slender black case.

With the case firmly in her possession, she felt an overwhelming sense of urgency. Much more quickly than before she replaced the board and sheets, and left the bedroom. She grabbed her bag and key, from where they had fallen the previous night, and rushed out of the apartment.

After securing the lock, she ran.

* * *

Niwa stood at the classroom door. When he heard approaching footsteps, his hand stopped inches away from the door. He turned. 

"Ohayo, Hiwatari-san," said Niwa as friendly and cheerily as he always did.

"What are you doing here," said Hiwatari. As he spoke he pointed to the door, "We're supposed to meet in the music hall."

Niwa turned back. Sure enough a note was posted on the door telling all students to meet in the music hall. Niwa turned around again laughing awkwardly, only to find Hiwatari had already walked off.

"Chotto matte," yelled Niwa as he hurried after Hiwatari.

* * *

At relatively the same time Hiwatari and Niwa arrived at the room. Both students could hear a soft melody drifting though the door.(1) 

Hiwatari reached out for the door handle, but stopped short after the melody reached his ears.

Without turning he spoke.

"Niwa-(2), do you sense that?"

Niwa looked at him, oblivious to the other student's concern.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Hn, you can't tell?" he opened the door, his gaze downward, "I guess it can't be helped."

Hiwatari left Niwa standing in the doorway as he walked across the room to the instrument cabinets. Without Hiwatari in the way, Niwa saw clearly into the room.

In the opposite corner of the room, everyone had gathered in a loose sort of huddle. The melody seemed to be coming from the corner as well.

Without the muffling barrier created by the door, Niwa could recognize a flute playing the alluring melody. Niwa stood in the doorway listening, admiring its beauty.

"Daisuke, Daisuke! Snap out of it!"

Through the melody, Niwa heard the familiar voice of Dark, the Phantom Theif; he was startled out of his reverie.

"What is it, Dark?" he asked mentally.

"That music, it has-" but before Dark could finish Niwa realized the music had stopped. For the moment everything was quiet. Nothing stirred.

From within the huddle, Himitsu looked up at the people standing around her. A strange look of astonishment and fear surfaced in her eyes. Quickly, she grabbed her bag and the empty flute case off the floor. With her flute tightly in hand, she made her way through the silent huddle of spectators.

In the other corner, Hiwatari reached into the cabinet, pulling out the odd shaped case of a French horn. He watched Himitsu break from the huddle of students, and sit in the second row of chairs.(3) Minutes later the huddle broke up as well.

The moment Hiwatari could see the flute. He recognized it. The pearl(4) plating and the golden keys are common qualities on expensive flute. What is was that Hiwatari truly recognized was the inlaid golden dragon, which wove its way along the body and the foot joint of the flute.

Hiwatari stared at the instrument and at her. _That artwork, it can't be. It's been lost for years…_

The younger Harada's voice broke through his thoughts.

"I wonder what kind of music Dark-san likes," she said in her high-pitched dreamy voice.

"That shouldn't be all you care about," scolded her older twin sister.

"Maybe, if I learn to play like Himitsu-chan, Dark-san would want me to play for him," she mused. Risa hugged her own flute, while lost in her dayream.

"She does play beautifully, doesn't she?" said Riku quietly to her inattentive sister.

From that point Hiwatari ceased to listen. Class soon started and even though he pushed the artwork to the back of his mind, it never entirely left him alone.

* * *

(1) Melody is the acoustic version of the opening theme song. Byakuya-True Light. By Shuunishi Miyamoto. Just incase anyone wanted to have a fuller picture. 

(2) I couldn't figure out if Hiwatari ever uses an honorific when he addresses Niwa so if anyone knows please tell me what it is.

(3) Though not many of you really care, I'm using the seating of my own high school band. I know the layout isn't really standard but…we have clarinets and the oboe, in the front, then flutes. Behind us, yes I play flute and am a major band geek, are the saxophones, the base clarinet and French horn. In the last row is practically all the brass instruments: trumpets, trombones, euphonium, and tuba.

(4) I know it's not actually pearl. It's just a kind of frosted white metal finish. I don't really know how else to describe it, nor do I really know what it truly is.


End file.
